The pardon of a convict, umnos recalcitrance and Amanahs apology. Part 1

 

1. Adam Smith was a famous Scottish economist. He wrote a famous book called the wealth of nations. It established the principle that rational self-interest leads to economic wellbeing in a free Enterprise economy.

2. As an economist, I would love to elaborate on the ideas of Smith. But I want to focus on a less quoted statement by Smith.


3. The statement reads, mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. The statement is so prescient, pertinent and relevant. Plus, it has currency in the present maddening climate.

4. Mercy to guilty Najib is cruelty to millions of innocent and God-fearing Malaysians. That statement should shock many people and knock some senses into people who have sworn by some things.

5. 

# the Agong has sworn to look after the people, not lookout for Najib alone
# the judges have sworn to uphold justice
# police have sworn to uphold the law
#politicians have sworn to uphold the constitution.
#the people know to distinguish right and wrong.

6. The government is assiduously cultivating an image of uncompromising intolerance towards any forms of corruption. Consequently, any party allied to the unity government must concur with its policy of anti corruption.

7. So when umno stubbornly and continuously agitate for the release of convict Najib, it stands in defiance to the underlying policy of the unity government.

8. It is the recalcitrant and mutinous attitude of umno that must be faulted, not the pronouncements of Khalid Samad and Amanah .

9. Khalid Samad need not be apologetic about his statement and if it does, it has turned it's back on the people. If it does, it means it has capitulated to the black mailings of umno.

10. Umno has shown its black hand in this issue. It will bend the law until the law is in its favor and it supports corruption. A component party that acquiesces in umnos underhand tactic, shows also it will manipulate the law and willing to accommodate corruption.

11. Umno may argue that seeking pardon and clemency for a convict is its own policy, but threatening a component party to sever ties with it because the other party beseeches the Agong to reject pardon and clemency is, black mailing others .

12. By the same reasoning, since the official policy of the government is zero tolerance of corruption, will umno threaten to sever ties with the unity government? Go ahead!

13. Umno will always be its petulant and recalcitrant self, having a high opinion of itself. May I remind readers, that umno is a passenger and not the driver of this unity government? It's just a melukut di tepi gantang. Sedarlah diri sedikit samdol!

14. And how is it, that is its interference with the Agongs wisdom in deciding whether to pardon Najib , when OPPOSING that request ,but asking for clemency and pardon is not?

15. Or, what umno asks is ok, but what others ask, is not ok.

16. When an umno leader says that this is a case where a friend stabs a friend in the back, he needs to be reminded of what Islam says about the principles of friendship.

17. First of all, the business of backstabbing and treachery is second nature to umno. It therefore thinks others are doing the same when not agreeing with them.

18. Islam lays down clear principles about helping and working hand in hand with a friend. And that is, you help a friend in the commission of good and raises taqwa or fear of God. You do not help or work hand in hand in the commission of evil. Fear God as God's punishment is most severe.

19. Umno is implicitly inviting other component parties to support an evil, to wit pardon and release convict Najib. Both choices are no option. It's an invitation all component parties must decline .

20. What can we make of Amanahs tucking it's tail in between it's leg like a mongrel?

21. It was just a show. Obviously there must be a lot of rank pulling in amanah. In the end, Amanahs deputy president apologized to umno. It was an exercise in damage control. It was to prevent a tiff from boiling over into open hostility and animosity. It was necessary to preserve the unity in the unity government

22 . Curiously, it was Amanahs deputy president, Salehudin Ayub,who issued the apology and not the man who was alleged to be the loose canon, Khalid Samad. Will umno accept that?

23. The man who said that Khalid was a loose canon was the primus inter pares, shahrir Samad, who is an umno veteran and half brother to Khalid. It was our own Cain and Abel.

24. If shahrirs statement came after the apology was issued, it shows that umno not only wants meat but also blood

25. The true character must come out in the end. The scum rises to the surface. Umno is a recalcitrant and bolshie child that feels it's entitled to special treatment. It can't escape a sense of entitlement.

26. But the apology is also injurious to Amanah. It will be perceived as an unprincipled and spineless party . It has managed to rahmah-nise or cheapen itself. Let's see how AMANAH saves itself .